1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing device in which a photosensitive material that has been inserted via an insertion aperture is processed using processing solutions stored in processing tanks, and is then discharged via a discharge aperture and stacked.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a guide structure for a photosensitive material processing device for guiding a photosensitive material in a predetermined transporting direction in the processing tanks while supporting the photosensitive material in the processing device.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing device for processing a photosensitive material by brushing the surface of the photosensitive material using brush rollers.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a finishing solution control system used in the processing device in a finishing processing section for performing a desensitizing processing on the surface of the photosensitive material using finishing solution.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a water storage tank for storing water used to wash the photosensitive material and to dilute processing solution in the processing device.
The present invention also relates to a stacking device provided in the processing device for stacking photosensitive material ejected from the ejection aperture of the processing section after passing through the processing section of the processing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photosensitive material processing device, processing such as developing and the like using a plurality of processing solutions is performed on a photosensitive material that has undergone image exposure as the photosensitive material is being transported, by immersing the photosensitive material in processing solutions, spraying processing solutions on the surface of the photosensitive material, and the like.
For example, in a photosensitive material processing device for processing photosensitive planographic printing plates (referred to below as xe2x80x9cprinting platesxe2x80x9d) as a photosensitive material, there are provided a plurality of processing steps that use processing solutions, such as: a developing step for developing the printing plate by immersing it in a developing solution; a washing step for washing the surface of the printing plate using washing water; and a desensitizing step for performing a desensitizing processing by coating the surface of the printing plate with finisher solution after it has finished the washing process in order to protect it. A printing plate that has previously undergone image exposure is thus subjected to developing, washing, and desensitizing processing in a processing device such as this.
However, the developing solutions used in processing a printing plate deteriorate as they come into contact with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the processing performance thereof is reduced. Moreover, the processing performance changes as the water content in the developing solutions evaporates. Furthermore, the finisher solution coated on the printing plate adheres to the rollers and is made to stick to the rollers if heated air from the drying step provided adjacent to the finisher step leaks into the finisher step. Pairs of transport rollers in the finisher step prior to the drying step end up sticking together, and the surface of the printing plate is damaged as the printing plate comes into contact with the rollers to which the finisher solution has stuck.
Therefore, in the processing device, the insertion apertures and discharge apertures through which the printing plate passes are closed off using a blade or slide type of shutter mechanism. Consequently, outside air can be prevented from coming in via the insertion aperture and discharge aperture when no printing plate is passing through. As a result, deterioration in the developing solutions, evaporation of the water content in the developing solutions, and the hardening of processing solutions such as the finisher solution adhered to the rollers can be prevented.
However, if the insertion apertures and discharge apertures are closed off using a blade and a printing plate is transported while in contact with this blade, then if the blade makes contact with the surface of the printing plate while processing solution is adhering to the printing plate, contact marks from the blade are left on the surface of the printing plate and the like, thereby affecting the product quality of the printing plate.
Moreover, if the insertion apertures and discharge apertures are opened and closed off using a slide type of shutter, space for the movement of the slide type shutter needs to be secured near the insertion apertures and discharge apertures. The securing of this space has sometimes been difficult, as printing plate processors have become more and more compact. In addition, in a slide type of shutter, if processing solution becomes adhered and fixed thereto, operating failures can occur and accurate opening and closing can be difficult. Consequently, the first problem evident in existing photosensitive material processing devices is the opening and closing of the portion used as a passage by the printing plate.
Here, examples of printing plates include, in addition to a commonly structured printing plate (presensitized or PS plate) comprising a photosensitive composition coated in a thin layer on an aluminum substrate, a photopolymer plate comprising a photo adhesion layer, a photo polymerization layer, and an overcoat layer superposed on a substrate, and a thermal plate comprising on a substrate a subbing layer and a photosensitive layer in which the photo energy of laser light is converted into thermal energy and which is either hardened (negative type) or made soluble (positive type) depending on the developing solution.
Printing plates on which images have been recorded undergo developing processing using a photosensitive material processing device and are used as printing plates for printing. Guide devices are provided inside the developing tanks of the processing device and printed plates are transported while being guided by the guide devices.
Some processing devices use only plate shaped guide devices depending on the printing plate being processed, while other processing devices transport the printing plates by guiding them via contact with a plurality of transporting rollers provided in the guide devices. When processing is performed using photopolymer plates, the unnecessary photosensitive layer is removed by rubbing the surface of the plate with brush rollers. At this time, transporting rollers may be provided at positions facing the brush rollers in the guide. Moreover, the printing plates come in various sizes and it is necessary to use a guide device having width dimensions that correspond to a size within the range that can be processed by the processing device.
Accordingly, the second problem in existing processing devices is the difficulty in lowering the cost brought about when guide devices that match the various sizes and types of printing plates being processed need to be used even if the guide devices used have a common configuration.
Next, in an automatic developing device, which is a photosensitive material processing device for performing developing processing on an image exposed photopolymer plate, an image is formed by immersing the photopolymer plate in developing solution, thereby swelling the unnecessary photosensitive layer (the photopolymer layer) in accordance with the exposure image, and then removing the unnecessary layer from the substrate. Moreover, in an automatic developing device, by brushing the surface of the printing plate that has been immersed in the developing solution using a brush roller, the removal of the unnecessary photosensitive layer from the substrate can be accelerated.
The brush rollers used when processing printing plates such as a photopolymer plate and the like are formed by attaching channel brushes around the roller body, or by using Morton rollers. However, brush rollers that use channel brushes have excellent durability, but tend to rub the printing plate unevenly. Morton brushes show superior performance as regards rubbing unevenness over brush rollers using channel brushes, however, their durability is poor. The rubbing unevenness of brush rollers has a great effect on the product quality of photopolymer plates. Namely, because photopolymer plates need to be brushed more vigorously than other type of printing plates, the brushing unevenness tends to stand out.
Namely, brush rollers that use channel brushes have difficulties in the placement of the brush hair material at a uniform density and at a uniform angle. Moreover, gaps appear between channels that become the base portion when the channel member is wound around the roller body. In order to fill in this gap between channels, it is necessary to lengthen the hair ends of the brush hair material, however, if the hair ends are lengthened, the stiffness of the hair material is weakened and vigorous brushing becomes difficult. Moreover, if the diameter of the hair material is increased in order to increase the stiffness thereof, then marks from the rubbing are made on the photopolymer plate.
Furthermore, when pressure is applied to portions of the surface of a Morton roller when the roller is used for vigorous brushing, the surface of the roller is deformed and rubbing unevenness is generated.
In contrast to the above rollers, in some cases a brush roller, in which a belt shaped member formed by weaving a brush hair material into a belt shaped fabric is wound around a roller body in a spiral shape, is used.
However, in a brush roller formed by winding a belt shaped material in a spiral configuration, although it is possible to make the gaps between the belt shaped material wound around the roller body extremely narrow, the gaps still remain to some extent. Therefore, unevenness in the rubbing on the surface of the printing plate caused by these gaps stands out as winding marks even when the brush roller uses a belt shaped member. This is the third problem of existing photosensitive material processing devices.
In a photosensitive material processing device, in order to transport the photosensitive material to the drying section after the desensitizing processing, a structure is employed in which the photosensitive material is nipped by a pair of transporting roller and this pair of transporting rollers is driven to rotate so that the photosensitive material is fed to the drying section.
Here, a transport system using the above pair of transporting rollers is formed in a processing device for a PS plate type of photosensitive material.
In a processing device for PS plates, the hardening of the finishing solution on the rollers is prevented by using a mechanical roller lift up mechanism. Because this roller lift up mechanism involves mostly manual operations by the user, the user may absentmindedly forget or intentionally omit the operation due to the complexity thereof.
In contrast, if the roller lift up mechanism is operated, and then the work restarted when the user has forgotten to restore the roller lift up mechanism, problems are caused such as the finisher solution pouring into the adjacent drying section.
Moreover, the finisher solution tends to become concentrated due to natural evaporation and the heat from the adjacent drying section, requiring the concentration of the finisher solution to be adjusted by supplying water manually.
In order to adjust the concentration of the finisher solution, dilution water is supplied by being dripped onto a roller thereby preventing the finisher solution from hardening on the surface of the roller.
This dripping of the dilution water onto a transporting roller pair is performed at the end of the work and by leaving the rollers for a lengthy period after they have been washed, when the next work is started, it is possible to prevent finisher solution from hardening on the roller surface and rollers getting stuck together, and to prevent finisher solution from adhering as precipitate on the roller surface and being transferred to the printing plate.
However, if a large amount of dilution water is used to wash the rollers, the finisher solution ends up becoming diluted. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the amount of dilution water that can be used by calculating the amount of evaporation for one day. However, the fourth problem of existing processing devices is that, if the washing device for washing the rollers by dripping dilution water onto them is operated while the device is temporarily halted (for example, during a lunch break or the like), the amount of dilution water that can be used when the device is finally shut down is reduced and the rollers cannot be properly washed.
Next, in the photosensitive material processing device, replenishment of the processing solutions is performed by supplying replenishing stock solutions of the developing solution and the finisher solution, as well as water for diluting the replenishing stock solutions, to the developing tank and the finisher tank.
A water supply tank for storing water is provided in the processing device and water used for washing and for diluting the replenishing stock solutions is stored in the water supply tank. If necessary, water can be fed out from the water supply tank using a pump or the like.
If water is left in the washing tank and water supply tank, mold forms. Therefore, the forming of mold is prevented by regularly adding a small amount of anti-mold agent (referred to below as xe2x80x9cchemical agentsxe2x80x9d) to the washing tank and water supply tank. For example, 30 milliliters of chemical agents are added for 10 liters of water.
Generally, the method of adding chemical agents involves the addition thereof by hand at regular intervals. In this type of addition method, the addition can be easily forgotten and this causes mold to end up being formed because the concentration of the chemical agents is reduced.
In order to prevent the addition of the chemical agents from being forgotten and to do away with the burden of the addition task, a method is sometimes employed in which chemical agents are pumped using a pump or the like from a chemical tank in which they are contained by timer control and then supplied to the washing tank or water supply tank.
However, because new water is fed to the washing tank and water supply tank in accordance with the printing plate processing amount, if chemical agents are added by timer control, it is possible that the amount added will either be excessive or insufficient. This is the fifth problem in existing processing devices.
Moreover, because of the high viscosity of the chemical agents they have difficulty in dispersing. Furthermore, when they are being dissolved in water, because the chemical agents gradually dissolve from their outer periphery, a lengthy amount of time is required until they are blended into the water. Therefore, when chemical agents have been added to the water supply tank, it is necessary to stir the water in the water supply tank manually, or to stir the water in the water supply tank by providing stirring means such as a circulation pump or stirring fins. Because of this, the workload when using the processing device is increased and the cost of the device tends to increase. As a result, the sixth problem of existing processing devices is being able to accelerate the blending of the chemical agents in a simpler structure.
Subsequently, after printing plates formed from a photosensitive material have undergone processing the respective types of processing device, they are usually stacked in a stacking device (stacker) provided at the ejection side of the processing device.
When seen from the side, this stacker is formed substantially in a V shape comprising a first slope and a second slope. The stacker is structured so as to allow printing plates fed out from, for example, the processing section or drying section of the processing device to slip down the first slope and then be caught at the bottom end of this slope. Printing plates that have been caught at the bottom end of the first slope and are standing at an angle against the inclined first slope are then transferred over to the second inclined slope (the stacking tray). This transferal may be performed by rotation around the bottom end of the first slope thereby changing the inclination of the printing plates so that they incline in the direction of the stacking tray, or by providing a plate that presses the printing plates away from the slope.
There are various sizes of printing plate (for example, from size A3 to size A0 in the representative industrial standards ANSI, BS, DIN, or JIS) and the length in the transporting direction of the printing plate differs depending on the size. Moreover, the transporting length of the printing plate also differs depending on the direction in which the printing plates are transported inside the processing device. Here, if the length in the transporting direction of the printing plates is long (for example, if an A0 size printing plate is transported in the longitudinal direction of the printing plate), when the printing plate is separated from the nipping rollers provided at the discharge aperture of the processing device, because the distance between the leading edge of the printing plate in the transporting direction and the bottom end of the slope is comparatively short, the shock received by the leading edge of the printing plate in the transporting direction is small and there is no problem. If the printing plate is, for example, an A3 size that is smaller than the A0 size and has a shorter length in the transporting direction, when the printing plate is separated from the nipping rollers, the distance between the leading edge of the printing plate in the transporting direction and the bottom end of the slope is longer. Because of this longer distance, the height from which the plate drops is higher and the shock received by the leading edge of the printing plate in the transporting direction when it slips under its own weight is greater. As a result, the printing plate sometimes bends and in some cases even breaks. Stackers are designed to be able to stack all sizes of printing plates, however, in an A3 size plate (thickness 0.4 mm), in particular, the shock received by the leading edge of the printing plate in the transporting direction when it slips down is great and the size of the deformation of the printing plate needs to be examined.
In order to solve this problem, it is possible to make the slope less steep, however, the less steep the slope, the size of the space required to install the stacker increases which is not preferable.
Another means may be considered in which a shock absorbent material is provided at the bottom end of the slope for absorbing the shock. Using this method, the force of the shock is softened, however, the condition of the stack becomes unstable, and problems occur such as the transferal to the stacking tray not being performed smoothly. This softening of the shock of falling on the printing plate is the seventh problem in a sloping stacking device in an existing processing device.
The first object of the present invention is to provide in a small space a photosensitive material processing device capable of accurately opening and closing a transit aperture for a photosensitive material such as an insertion aperture and a discharge aperture, in order to counter the above first problem.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a guide structure for a photosensitive material processing device capable of reducing costs by being able to be employed in variously structured photosensitive material processing devices, in order to counter the above second problem.
The third object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing device that suppresses the gaps between belt shaped members from appearing as winding marks on the surface of a photosensitive material when the photosensitive material is brushed using a brush roller formed by a belt shaped member comprising brush hair material wound in a spiral around a roller body, in order to counter the above third problem.
The fourth object of the present invention is to provide a finisher solution control system for a photosensitive material processing device that differentiates between a temporary stoppage and a final stoppage, and that enables control such that the concentration of the finisher solution is not changed when the replenishment of dilution water, necessary because of evaporation, and washing of rollers using this dilution water are performed in combination, in order to counter the above fourth problem.
The fifth object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing device in which, when chemical agents such as anti-mold agent are added to the water supply tank, the concentration of the chemical agents is kept substantially constant without the amount added being either excessive or insufficient, in order to counter the above fifth problem.
The sixth object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing device that has a simple structure and that accelerates the blending of the chemicals when chemical agents such as anti-mold agent are added to the water supply tank, in order to counter the above sixth problem.
The seventh object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing device provided with a photosensitive material stacking device capable of softening the force of the shock received by the photosensitive material when it drops down a slope while maintaining the steep angle of the slope, regardless of the size of the photosensitive material, in order to counter the above seventh problem.
In addition to the above seventh object, the eighth object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing device provided with a photosensitive material stacking device capable of rapidly stacking photosensitive material on the stacking device.
The first aspect of the present invention is a photosensitive material processing device for processing a photosensitive material inserted via a transit aperture provided upstream in a transporting direction of the photosensitive material using processing solutions stored in processing tanks, and discharging the photosensitive material via a transit aperture provided downstream in the transporting direction, comprising: blades provided above and below the transit passage and forming an aperture between tips of both blades protruding into the transit passage through which the photosensitive material is able to pass; a shutter section supported by a supporting shaft and formed in a cylindrical shape in an area facing the aperture; and a moving mechanism for moving a cylindrically shaped outer peripheral portion of the shutter section between a position of blocking the aperture portion and a position of opening the aperture portion.
According to this invention, blades are provided at a transit aperture of the photosensitive material and the photosensitive material passes through an aperture between the blades. The transit aperture is closed by the substantially circular cylinder-shaped outer peripheral portion of the shutter section being placed in the aperture between the blades and is opened by the substantially circular cylinder-shaped outer peripheral portion of the shutter section being withdrawn from the aperture between the blades.
In this way, by using blades to narrow the aperture through which the photosensitive material passes, the shutter section can be made smaller. Moreover, because the amount of the movement when the shutter section is withdrawn is small, the shutter section can be made compact in size.
The second aspect of the present invention is a guide structure for a photosensitive material processing device provided in a photosensitive material processing device for processing a photosensitive material using processing solutions by immersing the photosensitive material in processing solutions stored in processing tanks while transporting the photosensitive material, comprising: a guide plate placed facing the underside surface of the photosensitive material transported through the processing tank; guide ribs provided so as to protrude at predetermined intervals from the top surface of the guide plate and each extending in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material, for supporting and guiding the photosensitive material; and mounting portions, arranged at predetermined intervals in both a transporting direction of the photosensitive material and a direction orthogonal to the transporting direction, on which rollers are capable of being mounted in a freely rotatable manner such that at least a portion of an outer peripheral portion of the rollers protrude from the guide ribs.
According to this aspect of the invention, a plurality of guide ribs are provided on the top surface of a guide plate. Mounting portions on which rollers can be mounted are also formed in the guide plate.
As a result, when no rollers have been mounted, the guide plate can be used as a guide for transporting and guiding the photosensitive material using the guide ribs. When rollers have been mounted, the guide plate can be used as a guide for transporting and guiding the photosensitive material using the rollers.
Because the roller mounting portions are placed a predetermined distance apart in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material and in a direction orthogonal to the transporting direction, a guide can be formed having an optional number of rollers mounted in optional positions.
The third aspect of the present invention is a photosensitive material processing device for performing brushing processing on a surface of a photosensitive material being transported at a predetermined speed, by rotating brush rollers formed by winding a belt shaped member, comprising brush hair material on a surface of a belt shaped substrate, around a peripheral surface of a roller body in a spiral configuration from one end to the other end of the roller body, wherein a regulated winding mark index (L) is set in a predetermined range using as parameters:
(i) a width (W) of the belt shaped member,
(ii) a size of a gap (h) between adjacent portions of the belt shaped member in an axial direction when the belt shaped member is wound in a spiral around the roller body,
(iii) a size of an outer diameter (R) of the brush roller including the brush hair material,
(iv) a size of a shaft diameter (r) which is an outer diameter of the roller body,
(v) a transporting speed (V) of the photosensitive material,
(vi) a number of revolutions (N) of the brush roller, and
(vii) a pressing force (S) of the brush hair material when the photosensitive material is being brushed by the brush roller.
According to the third aspect of the invention, when a photosensitive material is brushed using a brush roller formed by winding a belt shaped member in a spiral around a roller body, due to the relationship between the distance moved in the axial direction of the roller by gaps between portions of the belt shaped member and the width of the gaps between portions of the belt shaped member, the extent of unevenness in the rubbing caused by these gaps changes in the time from when the brush hair material of the brush roller makes contact with the photosensitive material until it moves out of contact therewith.
Therefore, taking as parameters the width of the belt shaped member, the width of the gaps between those portions of the belt shaped member that are adjacent in the axial direction when the belt shaped member is wound in a spiral on a roller body, the outer diameter of the brush roller including the brush hair material, the diameter of the shaft which is the outer diameter of the roller body, the transporting speed of the photosensitive material, the number of revolutions of the brush roller, and the amount of the pressing by the brush hair material when the photosensitive material is brushed using the brush roller, rubbing unevenness is suppressed from appearing on the surface of the photosensitive material by setting these parameters such that rubbing unevenness on the surface of the photosensitive material is reduced, thereby an improvement in the product quality of the photosensitive material can be achieved.
The fourth aspect of the present invention is a control system for finishing solution in a finishing processing section used in a photosensitive material processing device for processing a photosensitive material using processing solution while transporting the photosensitive material using transporting rollers, the finishing processing section performing desensitizing processing on the surface of the photosensitive material using finishing solution comprising: a pair of transporting rollers provided in at least the finishing processing section for imparting transporting force to the photosensitive material by nipping the photosensitive material and transporting it through the finishing processing section; a washing device for washing the pair of transporting rollers using dilution water for diluting stock solution of the finishing solution; a stop mode selecting device for selecting any one of a temporary stop mode when a state in which an operation of the photosensitive material processor is stopped lasts for a comparatively short time, and a complete stop mode when a state in which an operation of the photosensitive material processor is stopped lasts for a comparatively long time; and a washing control mechanism for operating the washing device when the complete stop mode is selected in the selecting device, and for stopping the photosensitive material processing device from operating without operating the washing device, and operating the washing device when the photosensitive material processing device is restarted after a predetermined time has elapsed when the temporary stop mode is selected.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the device is stopped, a temporary stoppage or a complete stoppage is selected by the selecting device.
When the temporary stop mode is selected, because it can be basically assumed that the device will be restarted after the lapse of a short passage of time, the transporting rollers are not washed, unlike when the complete stop is selected.
Namely, because finisher solution is supplied to the rollers by the operation of the device before the finisher solution hardens and pairs of rollers stick together or the finisher solution adheres as a precipitate to the roller surfaces, the rollers are placed in a wet state by the finisher solution and washing of the rollers can be omitted. As a result, it is possible to control the needless use of dilution water and to ensure a sufficient amount of dilution water is available for washing the rollers at the complete stop time.
It should be noted that, in temporary stop mode, it is basically expected that the device will be restarted after the above short time, however, it may happen that the stoppage is lengthened for some reason or other. Therefore, in the washing control device, in temporary stop mode, when the device is restarted after a predetermined time has elapsed, it is determined that finisher solution has hardened and become adhered to the rollers and, in this case, the washing device that uses dilution water is operated. Namely, although the mode is temporary stop mode, when a predetermined length of time has passed, it is necessary to perform the same processing as for the complete stop mode. As a result, in the temporary stop mode, when the device is left unused (i.e. not restarted) for a long time for some reason or other, the rollers can be washed with dilution water in the same way as in the complete stop.
The fifth aspect of the present invention is a photosensitive material processing device for processing a photosensitive material using processing solution that uses water, comprising: a water supply tank for storing the water; a chemical agent adding device for adding chemical agent to the supply tank; a water supply device for supplying water to the water supply tank in accordance with an amount of the water that is used; and an adding control device for adding the chemical agent to the water supply tank by operating the chemical agent adding device in accordance with an amount of water supplied to the water supply tank.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a water tank is provided and water used for diluting processing solutions or for washing water is pumped from this water tank to each processing tank. Moreover, water is supplied to this water tank in accordance with the amount of water pumped out, so that a state is maintained in which substantially a fixed amount of water is stored.
The adding control device adds chemical agents such as anti-mold agent or the like in accordance with the amount of water supplied to the water supply tank. As a result, water is stored in the water supply tank that has substantially a fixed concentration of chemical agent.
By adding chemical agent in accordance with the amount of water supplied to the water supply tank, in this way, there is no longer any need to add chemical agent separately to each processing tank, and it is possible to prevent mold, for example, and the like from forming by efficiently using chemical agent, without the user forgetting to add the chemical agent or adding an excessive or insufficient amount of the chemical agent.
The sixth aspect of the present invention is a photosensitive material processing device for processing photosensitive material using processing solutions that use water supplied from a water supply tank, comprising: a conduit portion slanted at a predetermined angle above the surface of water inside the water supply tank; a chemical agent adding device for adding chemical agent to the water supply tank by dropping the chemical agent from a predetermined position on the conduit portion; and a water supply device for supplying water to the water supply tank by dropping water down the conduit portion from a position above the position where the chemical agent is dropped onto the conduit portion.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a conduit portion is provided in the water supply tank. When water is supplied to this conduit portion in the water supply device, the water runs down the conduit portion and falls into the water supply tank.
When chemical agent is supplied to this conduit portion in the chemical agent adding device, the chemical agent runs down the conduit portion.
In this case, when the chemical agent has a high viscosity, it runs at a slow speed down the conduit portion. When such a chemical agent is running down the middle of the conduit portion, if water is supplied to the conduit portion from the water supply device, the water washes down the chemical agent on the conduit portion as it flows down the conduit portion. As a result, it is possible to supply water in which chemical agent has already been mixed. Moreover, by mixing the chemical agent into the water flowing down the conduit portion, the chemical agent is more easily dissolved. Accordingly, the dissolving of the chemical agent in the water can be accelerated.
The seventh aspect of the present invention is a photosensitive material stacking device for stacking photosensitive material discharged from a discharge aperture of the photosensitive material processing device after having completed predetermined processing while being transported by the photosensitive material processing device, comprising: a slope down which the photosensitive material discharged from the discharge aperture is slid in a slanted state; stoppers provided on the slope for catching a front edge in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material discharged from the discharge aperture; a moving device for moving the stoppers from a position at the top portion of the slope, which is a reference position, to the bottom of the slope and then back again to the reference position; a transferring device for vertically stacking the photosensitive materials by transferring the photosensitive materials discharged from the discharge aperture and transported and placed in a slanted state at the bottommost end portion of the slope to a stacking shelf provided facing the slope; a front edge detecting sensor provided at the top end portion of the slope for detecting a front edge of the photosensitive material discharged from the discharge aperture; and a control device for controlling the moving device to start the stoppers moving down the slope from the reference position, with the stoppers not in contact with the photosensitive material, so as to match a transporting speed of the photosensitive material when it is discharged from the discharge aperture, using a signal output from the front edge detection sensor as a result of a detection of the front edge of the photosensitive material discharged from the discharge aperture, and the photosensitive material is caught by the stoppers as the photosensitive material separates from the discharge aperture and slides down the slope.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, firstly, the front edge of a photosensitive material discharged from the discharge aperture of a processing device is detected by a front edge detecting sensor.
When the front edge portion in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material is detected, then, regardless of the size of the photosensitive material, the operation of a moving means is started at a timing whereby the distance between the stoppers and the front edge of the photosensitive material is set at a comparatively short predetermined interval, and the stoppers start to move downwards from a reference position at the top of the slope. The speed of the movement of the stoppers is obtained from the speed at which the photosensitive material is being transported by the photosensitive material transporting device. It is preferable if the speed of the movement of the stoppers is the same as the transporting speed of the photosensitive material processing device, however, a slight difference in speeds is allowable.
As a result, the photosensitive material is discharged down the slope at the same speed as the speed at which the photosensitive material is being transported by the photosensitive material processing device until the rear edge thereof separates from the transporting roller pair at the discharge aperture of the photosensitive material processing device. However, because the stoppers are also descending together with the movement of the photosensitive material, the distance between the front edge of the photosensitive material and the stoppers is maintained at a comparatively short predetermined interval (i.e. shorter than the distance from the front edge of the photosensitive material to the bottommost end of the slope), thereby keeping the photosensitive material and the stoppers from coming into contact with each other.
At this point, when the photosensitive material separates from the discharge aperture, the photosensitive material slides down the slope under its own weight. However, because the photosensitive material that has slid down for a short distance is caught by the stoppers, the force of the shock received by the photosensitive material is extremely small, and it is possible to prevent the bottom edge portion of the photosensitive material (the front edge portion in the transporting direction) from being deformed.
When the stoppers reach a predetermined bottom end position, the font edge portion in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material is supported by the bottommost end portion of the slope. Thereafter, the stacking of the photosensitive material is completed when the photosensitive material is transferred to a stacking shelf.